Frame Corner Placement

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carladea

CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Joined
Sep 25, 2000
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Loc
Weaverville, NC USA
As I was cleaning and organizing my corner walls yesterday, I started wondering about actual placement of corners on the wall. I know manufacturers pay money to have their products placed at "eye level" in grocery and retail stores. Would there be an advantage to placing more lucrative frame corners at "eye level"?

I have my corners arranged for the most part by color and have never thought more about the placement. Since this is more of a service industry and I actually pull the mouldings from the wall for a design and know where they are, I don't know if it would make a difference. My wall is fully accessible to the customer, and I wonder if their tendency is to look at "eye level" frames, as I am open to their input as to what they like.

I did notice that my least favorite frames are at the bottom of the wall, but I didn't consciously put them there.

Can frames be marketed by wall placement?

Any thoughts or ideas, or am I just thinking too much in my spare time?
 
Yes, absolutely. Certainly.

Have you ever seen all those beautiful huge corner samples way at the top of the wall or off in one corner? Why are they there? Oh, because we never sell them.

Maybe you never sell them because they are at the top where nobody sees them or tucked away in the corner. Or perhaps you just hate having to stretch and strain to pull them off the wall.

Put those mouldings you want to sell, those that are profitable, front and center at eye level. Then you, your staff and your customer will see them. You'll be more likely to show them, your customer more likely to spot it and ask to see it.
 
Yes yes yes yes yes

The appearance of all things in your shop is marketing. You are more likely to pull molding that are easier to reach. The layout of your boards as well as the background color can make a big difference. Greg Perkins showed photos in his class at Las Vegas showing a black background on a sample wall. What corners do you think popped off the wall? The gold and silvers did. What frame have higher prices and better profits?
Again its the golds and silvers. This is retail, we all have to think more like retailers and less like framers. We need to take a hard look at our stores (myself included) and imagine them in the newest and best mall next to the major clothing stores like Abercrombie & Fitch or The Gap. Our clients a shopping these malls and expect to have an experience when the shop. Its our job to make sure its a pleasant and memorable one.
 
Not everyone will agree with the validity of this approach (and wouldn't this be a boring forum if they did?) but I spent some time a while ago organizing my moulding samples according to the families set up by the vendor. So, for example, all the L-J Queen Victorias are hanging together. That seems to encourage and simplify the use of stacked mouldings and fillets and to address questions like, "Do you have this a little darker?" or "Can I get this one, but wider?"

Then I have a separate board with a few dozen mouldings I want to feature. I try to show this with a framed example. It's in a spot where people very nearly trip over it.

The mouldings that get the most attention, however, seem to be the ones that are laying around on the design counter, either because I haven't had a chance to put them away or because I was working with them when someone walked in. Almost invariably, people will pick them up for a closer look and try them on their picture while I'm hunting for something else.

So, if you have some mouldings you want to "push," I wouldn't hang them up at all. Just throw them around your design counter and they'll sell themselves.

I agree, though, that hanging them low is the closest thing to putting them in a box somewhere. People will stand on their tippy-toes to reach one 8-feet off the ground, but they won't lean over. I think it also helps to move them around from time-to-time, though this is a major pain! People that come in regularly (ya gotta love 'em) will notice mouldings just because they're in a different place.

Ron
 
Also, favor the customers' right side as they are looking at the wall. Retailers have this down to a science. There is much literature on the subject. When I go into a supermarket I feel like l'm in a maze---even if I didn't go in to buy cheese.
 
I've noticed that when folks come in, they begin browsing to their right; that is, in the door and they make a right hand turn and do the tour counterclockwise. Watch and see--betcha most of your folks make a right hand turn, assuming your door is in the middle of the shop as mine is.

Our golds, silvers, (Chateau, Musee, C astillano, Medici), Romas and intricate woods get a 75 watt halogen flood on them. Boy, do they sparkle and the intricate wood details show up. My flat blacks, Queen Vics and other assorteds that don'thave the detail in them get a 50 w. halogen.

Also foryou LJ lovers: they will send you for free, or almost free, wonderful signs to put over their moulding families, like Cortona, Malabr, Musee, etc. So when you group the families, you've also labeled them.
 
My corners are arranged with the most expensive, eye-popping ones smack dab in the center, going up. Frames $10.00 a foot or less are lower than eye level. How many times have you gad a customer stand at the counter and go "how about that one"? I take monthly averages, and when I arranged them this way, I saw an immediate rise in the average sale. I have instucted all my clerks to sell from the center of the wall first, and to go lower only if necessary or of only one of "those" frames really are perfect.
 
Well, I'm gonna go with Ron's layout. (But I'm STILL going to keep a sharp eye on you and the kid when you visit!!) I group mine by "families" and don't have any problems with showing the "best" for that particular client's art.

My biggest problem is I am long out of wall space. I have to peel something off the wall to make room for a new group of samples. I am considering building some octagonal lazy susan type displays so I can get more into the same amount of lineal floor space. Does anybody else use these displays? Are they worth putting the time into building? I can't spring for the $400 per carousel for prebuilt displays since I will need about 10 of them to fill the space behing the customer counter. And I know how to build them and have access to the turntables and velcro cloth so I don't feel that buying is cost effective.

Like to hear some other opinions on these carousels if anybody uses them.

Framerguy

P.S. I REALLY like this new preview mode that Framer incorporated into the G!! That is a REAL help for me and one of the best additions made to the "new" Grumble. Good job, Framer!
 
Framerguy,

I have three of the old rotary Larson readymade racks that I've converted to 4-sided spinners for corner samples. I love 'em. I even tried to get more of the racks from L-J, but no luck. If anyone has one or more of these they'd like to convert, let me know and I'll send you some plans. Mine are made with black fomecore, some black velcro and a minimal amount of lumber. They tooks about 90 minutes each, tops, to build.

I'm in the process of building an 8-ft wide frame that will hold 8 2-sided display boards that rotate. If that turns out, and it better 'cause 3 boxes of new samples arrived today. I'll post some pictures.

Ron
 
Originally posted by tnframer408:
I've noticed that when folks come in, they begin browsing to their right; that is, in the door and they make a right hand turn and do the tour counterclockwise. Watch and see--betcha most of your folks make a right hand turn, assuming your door is in the middle of the shop as mine is.
Click to expand...
I wonder if it is the opposite in countries like mine where we drive on the left hand side of the road. (Which is the right side!)

When I was in USA in 1996 I noticed that pedestrians on the pavement walked on the right hand side mostly and down here they walk on the left side.
 
On another thread here about carpeting, I stated that my back room is almost as clean as the showroom, mainly because often my customers come into the back as Ishow them pieces inprogress.

Another reason, though, is because I too have runout of wall space and severalhundred more moulding samples are hanging in the back, or in engineering or architect-type drawer units I got for free.

I'm in the process of adding to my showroom wallspace by buying those display grids--whie plasticcoated wire thingies--then off to home depot for some 1/4" plywood, attaching plywood to the grids using plumbers metal strapping then gluing carpeting onto that. I'll add an additional 15 ft or so of showroom area and, since the grids stand in a "Z" type formation, should be able to show many more mouldings.
 
It must be obvious that marketing is not my strong point. I can hardly believe that after almost 9 years here, I never gave the eye-level factor a thought. Well, this was the kick in the pants I needed to get busy, so guess my weekend will be spent rearranging my walls. I would like to do some more lighting, also, but can't do much about the "right-hand" thing. My shop is a lefty.
Thanks!
 
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